Eastern European Holiday Destinations

Hoping to go around Christmas for the markets. I've been wanting to go for a few years but never quite got there as yet.

 

Yes fancy it , Prague’s, Budapest and Bratislava’s highly recommended Dave .

 

I'm in Riga right now, I'd recommend it to anyone, unless you ain't a fan of the cold. About -15 with wind chill right now. Beautiful place though, like Krakow but less tourists

 

Worth a visit for a few days but Krakow and Warsaw have more going on. Great WW2 museum if that floats your boat

 

I've done Prague and Budapest but both many years ago. I'd definitely like to return.

This year for Holiday we're spending a week travelling around Switzerland by train then onto Austria and finishing in Munich for Oktoberfest but the next adventure I'm planning will definitely be taking in plenty of Eastern Europe.

 

I went in December about 4 years ago for the Christmas market. Absolutely baltic and the Latvian beer was terrible but it was a great place and I'd certainly go back.

Get to the corner house (old kgb building) if that's your thing. Incredible bit of history and very thought provoking if you go down and see the old cells.

 

Sounds great .

 

Poland is always the best European holiday destination

 

I don’t want piss on anybody’s chips but this isn’t the Eastern European tourist board thread.

It’s City v Rotherham.

We’ll be on chip shops/pubs of 1980’s Eccleshill again before we know it.

 

Really? Gdansk is where I am. If you need any recommendations for anything, let me know

 

Pitch inspection at 10am

 

Are you being very naughty?

 

Recently had a mini tour around parts of Eastern Europe. Visited Tallinn, Vilnius,Riga,Warsaw and Bratislava. Bit disappointed with Bratislava,Riga was good. I loved Warsaw, lovely place. Also helped I literally had a last minute idea to tag onto some local football fans walking to the stadium and ended up watching Legia Warsaw.On the day tickets £10 each!

 

I lived in Gdansk for several years, have travelled extensively all around Poland, so will add here some tips:

• If you want traditional Polish meals without restaurant prices then look for milk bars “bar mleczny” on Google maps
• Most cities let you use apps like “Jakdojade” for buses, local trains and trams. For longer train journeys, use the official Intercity website. If you want to use the cheapest trains, look for TLK trains
• “Mwars” is the app for ordering food on Intercity trains, but if you want alcohol, you have to go to the bar
• You don’t need Polish zloty unless you’re planning to go to old man style bottle bars or fruit and veg stalls. Almost everywhere uses card
• Use Bolt taxis when possible, or Uber does work and sometimes has similar pricing but I find Bolt is often cheaper. Getting in local taxis likely will see you scammed on price
• Going to football matches is relatively cheap but remember not to go around, let’s say Gdansk, wearing a Legia shirt, hat or scarf. In cities with more than one team, like Rzeszów, don’t wear official merch from one team their unless you genuinely support them or you’ll have trouble
• In Poland we have “friendship teams”, for example, at Lech Poznan, you may see Arka Gdynia shirts and vice versa
• You can drink in the stands unless it’s a high profile match, then often they only sell non-alcoholic beer. Unless you go in the posh seats
• Shops, supermarkets etc all close on Sundays and public holidays. Zabka is almost always open if you need to buy anything on a Sunday
• Most importantly, Polish is ridiculously safe unless you’re looking for trouble. Then you’ll find it
• Avoid tourist bars unless you don’t mind the prices. “Local” bars are always friendly, even in places like Sosnowiec, in my experience. Even if nobody speak English, they’ll be fine with you
• Customer service pretty much doesn’t exist in Poland unless you’re in a tourist location. People are polite but often I speak to people on holiday and they say how rude the customer service is and I’ve experienced it myself

 

Currently in Zakopane, been a few times and never tire of coming back. If you've haven't been you're missing a trick.

 

Not sure I can recommend Tallinn! Very pretty especially in the snow, and summers great, but the place has just got so ridiculously expensive and up its own arse, there’s better places to go. You can do most of the sights in a few days, but don’t expect Eastern European prices. I’ve just got back from a week in Henley on Thames and probably spent less there than I would in Tallinn. My Mrs was in Krakow a few weeks ago and couldn’t believe how cheap it was compared to home. It’s not like Tallinn is overly luxurious or friendly either. Expect to pay around 8€ a pint of local beer and around 35€ for steak and chips in a restaurant. 5,50€ for a pint of Peroni in my bar. Sadly tourists are realising it’s a rip off, and the number of visitors are down year on year. However, you can get here for about 40€ return direct from Luton on Wizz, so that offsets t the cost. Ryanair from Stanstead about the same. Jet2 are flying direct from Leeds Bradford this November and December. I’ll be make a few trips to watch some City games, but I think the prices will be around 250€ or so.

 

Went twice last year - Summer and just before Christmas - missed a big snowfall by 2 days !!! Lovely place.